Can you find this house please?

[TheHillsAreAliveWithTheSoundOfEtc]

Before I start, I know that this is a bit mad and it sounds like we want the moon on a stick, but bear with me.

We have £500k cash.
Both can work from anywhere.
Current property is sold, we are confident that we can find another buyer if it all fell through. We had 3 offers on this house, it's a desirable area etc.
We don't want to dick anyone around, similarly we want to find the right place for us.

In addition to our cash we could get up to £500k mortgage. We don't want to buy a £1 million house, we want to buy a house and make it the way we want.
Ideally we want to buy a house for £500k, and take up to £200k mortgage for 'improvements'.

We are middle aged. DCs have left home.
We have difficult relationships with both sets of our parents, they are all in the South West. We want to be far enough away, but not too far. Am the only daughter on my side & only wife on DH's side, if we stay, care of parents will fall to me.

We want:
A house with views, maybe on a hill or in a valley, with views. Areas we would consider (price permitting):
Herefordshire
South Wales inc Carmarthenshire/Pembrokeshire
Anywhere on the Wales/England border, up to and including Shropshire

The house;
4+ beds
Plenty of outside space - at least 1/2 an acre
Lots of parking inc space for double garage if one doesn't already exist
Outbuildings if possible

We want to be able to sit and enjoy dinner in the sunset.
We particularly like South Wales

One example of the type of house we like:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123993128#/?channel=RES_BUY

All ideas gratefully received and considered!
Thank you

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126555608?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/122894174?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

All the above are in Herefordshire, more than you want to spend but you did say possibility of a 500k mortgage!

Have you looked at Malvern? Some beautiful houses there, stunning views. Budleigh Salterton is really lovely too. X

I can recommend Herefordshire - very beautiful and reasonable prices. On the border with Wales, so you can walk in the hills, and easy access to Bristol, Birmingham and Cardiff for a bit of culture.

Swansea house looks lovely! I love the Goodchat Worcestershire house. And BlueDab Haversfordwest.

I can't look at them all. I'm in house envy! Great thread.

What do you want or need location wise? Do you need links to nearby towns or cities? The towns and villages in Powys/Shropshire/Herefordshire boarderlands are pretty sprawled apart and there's not much in between them. I'm in Knighton and it's a 40 minute drive in any direction to nearby supermarkets and pretty poor roads (especially on the England side of the boarder). For the spectacular views I'd head for the Wye Valley and Monmouthshire. It's closer to civilization in South Wales or Gloucester.

@Mischance thank you for looking for us.
Point noted that St Briavels is splendid.
The first house that you suggested is over the budget that we want to spend and someone upthread suggested it.
Skenfrith - lovely, but again, over preferred budget.

@elm26 Nice house, not much garden.

To @Crikeyalmighty and all those asking; we really might go for the house that I put in my OP, I started the thread to see what everyone else would come up with if faced with the same challenges!
That house (sort of) overlooks Pontardawe, which we also love.

@GMOOH2023 if you PM me or start another thread, I will gladly suggest lots of places/houses that would be suitable for you.

@AtomicRitual the Newport house is lovely, but more than we want to spend, especially as we would want to put in a very large downstairs extension, we need a study each for starters and yes, we can sacrifice a bedroom for one study, ideally we would like at least one downstairs.
Ditto the second house at Milford Haven.

You could come and join our WI if you buy the Abercynon house.

@IThinkTheresBeenAGlitch Ribble Valley house; lovely but way out of price and we would want to extend.
N. Yorks is lovely, but for the reasons upthread it's a no.

@Crikeyalmighty Monmouth - lovely but would definitely want to extend and not much land.
Forge Rd - I have seen this one, the house would need things doing, that's fine, but we would want to extend and it's got 0.4 garden, but the garden is an odd layout, so we didn't think that we could do the work that we would want to.
Four Crosses - on paper, looks perfect. However, the house (almost literally) sits on the busy A road and whilst there are 2+ acres and outbuildings, we would want to extend the house and there isn't much room to do that. If we did extend, we would be left with no garden!

@GoodChat Ruardean: it is to our taste, but it looks like it is round the back of the chip shop!
@GMOOH2023 if you do go to look at it I would be interested to hear what you think.

@NoSquirrels Old Radnor that would need a lot of work, but I like it, it's a definite maybe.
Clun the house is much smaller than we want, we would effectively want to double the size.
Kiln House, over price, very small.
Dolfor is my favourite, again though, very small.

@Sublimeursula we have given all of our DCs substantial financial help to buy their properties.
We would have a lot more money to spend on a house for ourselves if we hadn't!

@blitzen I love Northumberland/Cumbria and I love that house.
It is very tempting and I will run it past DH.
However, we have a DC who has settled in the South (not near my parents) also, neither of us have to go into work very often, but when we do it is in the South.
I guess we could fly - as it is that far. Driving would be hell!
🤔 I'll look at flights.

I would encourage you to think very carefully before purchasing a very large house at your stage in life. What often happens is couples become very attached to their ‘dream home’ and can’t face moving when it is, what seems to be, not that long after and the property is no longer safe or manageable for them to live in. Rural life is no picnic in old age.

Now that’s out the way, I wouldn’t recommend Salisbury Plain - totally depressing, it’s just flat and a lot of it is out of bounds for military exercises.

@CottonSock thank you, I will take a look at those places anyway, I do take on board what you say.

@Carrotpuffs you are very kind.
Not a day goes by when I don't think of my sister, I love her so much.
It saddens me more than I can say that she did not feel that she could speak to me.
Like me, she was good at pretending that everything was ok and I just did not know, although it has been decades I cannot forgive myself.
As I look back, DH and I had just moved into our first home, which needed everything doing and surprise 😳 I was pregnant. My sister visited, she said that she was ok, she really made it seem that she was. I will never forgive myself that I didn't push her, ask her more. She was brilliant and precious to many people.
I remain livid with my parents, who, at my sister's funeral, said that she was 'weak'. That is why I will not be looking after them in their old age, the way that they behaved killed my sister.

@Hongkongsuey thank you, I will search there.

@Seasonofthewitch83 good. Feel free to add your own houses! Or enjoy the ones that others have contributed.

@ShirleyHolmes That it gorgeous, though yes, it is definitely over budget!

Flights from Newcastle to London are frequent and can be cheap - when I was a student in Newcastle I always flew (family lived in the south east) as it was quicker (takes less than an hour) and cheaper than the train. I stayed in the NE after university and highly recommend Northumberland.

@ShirleyHolmes you are right, your second house is too small, but wow that really is a view.
Taliaris I like that, plenty of land. My only sticking point? (And I have noticed that this seems to be a singularly Welsh thing) no floor plan!
Llangadog is a definite maybe, I like it a lot. We would want to extend and, looking at the satellite view, I think it would be best to extend to the side.
Llandovery is on the A road.
Babel is listed.

Please keep looking, you've absolutely got the right idea!

@emmathedilemma absolutely, we'll have a full structural survey too, so 🤞no flooding!

@snowspider it's lovely, but spends and not enough of what we want to spend that sort of money.

@PrimarilyParented
1 - listed
2 - we would certainly want to see that one
3 - I have been to see it already and it's a no!
4 - listed
5 - flooding
6 - doesn't grab me, but I'll come back to it. I think someone else suggested it?
7 - auction
8 - don't want to be in Staffs
9 - someone else suggested this upthread, house is almost on the A road and would be extending into the garden!
10 - National Trust, paths and bridleways across the land (which is probably very busy because, National Trust), whole property probably subject to a million covenants!

@froomeonthebroom
1 - lovely location, don't know if it has much land though? Overpriced.
2 - overpriced.
3 - overpriced.

We can get a mortgage greater than £500k, I also said that we don't want to take on a big mortgage at our age.

@Shoemadlady yes, Malvern is lovely and I am looking! Definite no to Dorset/Devon/Cornwall, one set of parents live in one of those counties and the other set of parents are not averse to 'taking a quick trip to...' we don't want them taking a quick trip to us!

@BamBamBilla we don't need to be on top of services, we would need a GP within driving distance. We already live rurally, we are used to having to drive for everything!

@Crazymadchickenlady I really want to join the WI, I always have since my Grandma died (she was in the WI and I would like to take up the mantle)! Though you may have changed your mind if you have read the rest of this thread! I'm not usually spiky, it's the thought of leaving my sister's grave that is upsetting me.

@Cuppasoupmonster we aren't elderly! I said upthread that I'm not 50 yet! We've got a bit of life left in us yet, I hope. We already live rurally, so we know what we are letting ourselves in for.

Also upthread I said that we wouldn't be moving to Salisbury Plain.

@JulesJules I'm going to talk to DH about Cumbria/Northumberland now...

@TheHillsAreAliveWithTheSoundOfEtc have you considered Malvern?
Views a plenty
countryside
but close to amenities
good rail links
close to M5 and M50

@TheHillsAreAliveWithTheSoundOfEtc no floor plans are definitely a Welsh thing! Drives me mad! Beginning to improve though!

Llangadog house is lovely yes, such a gorgeous area too.

Will keep looking! (Oh I have name changed, it’s Shirley!) BTW, would you consider Ceredigion, or is that too far? And South Powys?

Houses in Shropshire are much cheaper than I’d thought! I’m loving this task!

So I have had a long conversation with DH. As our DC is settled in the South (I would describe it as South Central, rather than South West), Northumberland is out.

Our other DC own houses, but they might move, depending where life, love and work takes them.

@Crabsy absolutely, we love Malvern, unfortunately there are very few houses that come up there, so we wouldn't (couldn't) limit ourselves to there.

@GoodbyeMrChips oh my goodness, that novel! Anyway, thank you. You have been so kind to me today.

I am sure that I have been a mardy cow on this thread today. Moving is emotive, particularly in my situation. If I have upset anyone, I apologise.

We have decided that we would like to stick to Wales or Malvern if something comes up.

When I am searching on Rightmove I am putting in £650k max. 4+ bedrooms. Must have garden and parking. We are beginning to consider that we could widen our search to semi-detached as well as detached, just in case we are missing out on the house of our dreams!

We will consider anywhere except in the shadow of Snowdonia and we bow to your superior knowledge about areas.

Although the house we want is probably out of town, we would like to be near to a community with a pub! And maybe some shops - that is a maybe.

It might turn out that we end up nearby one of the larger towns, that is great too. We just want somewhere that is home for us, where we can make friends, put down roots and have a giggle.

Please do keep any suggestions coming. Thank you 😊

Have a look at this Malvern house www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/80235873

This was on our list of maybes when we were buying last year and the only reason we didn't was the parking doesn't look great

That a lovely house @GoodChat

op, have you considered - given your very healthy budget and not immediate need to use all four bedrooms - including 3 beds in your search? A family member of mine bought a 3 bed bungalow and turned it into a 5 bed by going up into the loft. You might also be happy with a three bed if (for instance) there was a large workshop/garage space that your DH could use for his hobby. Or it could be transformed into a little annexe (would be great for grown up DC staying). Other options for a house with a good amount of land are a garden room/office - again another family member has just spent £25k on one of these and it’s amazing how big they can be for that money. Fully insulated, it’s got a toilet and sink as well, it’s great.

It strikes me that this is a big move for you and it’s a lot of money as well of course. Location and community and views and the land around the house are impossible or very tricky to change so you need to get those right. But if you are also searching for the perfect house then you’re going to struggle. You have so much flexibility money-wise to turn the house into something you like, I think you need to be a lot more creative with your search. Reduce your minimum price and your minimum beds to 3 but try adding some other essentials like garden.